Lots of parents including famous celebrities such as Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin have been charged by the FBI for bribing college admissions officials to help their children in cheating the admissions process.

According to reports, these celebrities paid substantial bribes to improve the standardized scores of their children for the purpose of getting admission into some of the most elite colleges in the country.

Both the actresses have been charged for fraud under the case and face possible jail time depending upon the outcome of the case.

A Phenomenal Scandal

Considering the fact that it has taken some time for this fraudulent scheme to become exposed, there is no doubt that it was planned carefully. According to reported figures, the scheme involved bribes of approximately $25 million paid over a period of seven years.

Part of this payment was made to the administration officials of the standardized testing service, with the students receiving the privilege of cheating during the ACT as well as the SAT exams.

According to the charge sheet, both the Full House star Loughlin and the Desperate Housewives star Huffman have been named as two of the many accused of bribing examination officials to help their children get admission into prestigious colleges such as Yale University, Stanford University, Texas University, and University of California, among others.

A few coaches from some of these universities have also been charged with fraud and also for becoming part of this bribing scheme.

It seems as though Huffman has found the hearings to be very stressful as she does not look happy at all.

A Company

The company through which this bribing scheme was operated is known as The Key, located in the Newport Beach region of California. It was this entity that transferred money to various administrations and coaches.

The owner of The Keys, William Rick Singer, who later helped FBI in this investigation, remarked that he made payments on behalf of his clients that were actually meant for being transferred to coaches of some colleges.

According to him, his clients paid a specified amount to The Key, and the company then helped in listing the students on preferred admission lists, some of which were reserved for athletes. For this, Singer has been charged for racketeering, fraud, and also money laundering.

Misuse of Wealth

According to US attorney, the parents involved in this case are privileged people, and they have misused their wealth. While some represent well-established companies and hold top positions such as that of the CEO, others are simply rich because they are either successful investors or are famous designers and actors. One of the accused was the chairperson of a global legal firm.

The clients of Singer paid from $100,000 to $6.5 million for these services being offered by The Key. In some cases, the charges per student varied from $250,000 to $400,000.

In contrast to Huffman, Loughlin has been all smiles and confident about the case.

According to higher education authorities in America such as the American Council on Education, there is no place for such kind of fraud at any level of the US educational system, especially at the university and college level. Therefore, no concession can and should be given to the ones who have pled guilty to their crimes.

Reported figures have shown that the amount paid by Loughlin to secure her daughters’ admission into the University of Southern California is around $500,000. Her daughters were said to have been recruited in the crew team, even though both of them had never participated in any crew. The amount paid by Huffman is $15,000.